Boat accident haunted Seal Beach shooting suspect

Oct. 13, 2011

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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1987 Wilson High School yearbook photo of Scott Dekraai. COURTESY OF LONG BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, was taken into custody by police about a half-mile from a business where a lone gunman opened fire, leaving 8 people dead and one in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Booking photo of Scott Dekraai, 42, a former tugboat crewman who served in the military, is being held on suspicion of murder and is the sole suspect in the afternoon massacre that shattered this normally placid community known as “Mayberry by the Sea.” COURTESY OF THE SEAL BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

SEAL BEACH – The lone suspect in the deadliest shooting in Orange County history spent the past several years in pain, haunted and hobbled by a gruesome boat accident that left him unable to work.

Scott Dekraai, 41, also spent those years fighting his ex-wife, a stylist at Salon Meritage, for custody of their young son. They were in court together for a routine hearing less than 24 hours before the shooting, and colleagues have speculated that she was the target of the gunfire at the salon that left eight dead.

Dekraai was being held without bail on suspicion of murder. A long-time friend said the doughy man he saw being led away in handcuffs in news photographs bore little resemblance to the fit and fun-loving outdoorsman he once knew.

Friends called him Scotty, a swimmer, surfer and sport fisherman who grew up in Long Beach and followed his fisherman grandfather onto the water. He worked for years as a crewman on fishing charters, and was so popular that groups often asked if he would be aboard, said Don Ashley, owner of Pierpoint Landing Sportfishing.

Dekraai later worked on Catalina Express boats, Ashley said, and then moved on to tugboats. He was studying to get his tugboat captain's license when a freak accident ended his career in 2007.

A tow cable pinned a fellow crewman against a railing, killing her as Dekraai rushed to help, according to accounts of the accident. The cable then ripped across Dekraai's leg, almost severing it, Ashley said. Later, the pain from the nerve damage was so intense that Dekraai couldn't sit in a chair long enough to work even a desk job, Ashley said.

The injury marked a turning point in Dekraai's life, records suggest. Within a month, he had filed for divorce from his wife of four years, touching off a vicious custody battle that dragged into the day she died. His step-father took out a restraining order against him, and court records allege that Dekraai had attacked him.

Dekraai's ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, said in court documents that he was physically abusive and displayed the manic mood swings of bipolar disorder. She confided in a close friend, Sharyn White of Seal Beach, that he had twice threatened to kill her – once saying he would shoot her at the salon, White said.

A psychiatrist wrote in the divorce court file that Dekraai suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from the tugboat accident. Ashley said Dekraai would replay the accident in his mind, and suffered from nightmares.

"He was always a big, healthy, outdoorsy person," Ashley said. "Since he had this terrible accident, he hasn't been able to do anything outdoorsy." The injury, he added, "was very, very ugly, both mentally and physically."

Dekraai filed a personal-injury lawsuit against the tugboat company, Foss, in early 2010, records show. His attorney, Brian Magana, said he was seeking payment for lost wages, future medical expenses and pain and suffering. The company settled a month later, records show, but Magana said the terms of that settlement were confidential.

Dekraai has lived at least since 2008 in a single-story gray house on Melody Lane in Huntington Beach. He remarried about two years ago. An attorney for his ex-wife said he had been seeking full custody of their son, but a court-ordered review had recently recommended against that.

Neighbors described Dekraai as a friendly and doting father who they often saw outside playing ball with his son or walking his dog. Several said he blamed his ex-wife for their divorce and claimed it stemmed from his tugboat accident.

"My heart really goes out to his son," neighbor Mark Rivera said. "He's a really cute little boy. I'm just thinking, I don't know what's going to happen to him from this point forward."

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